Abstract
This article explores the rights of belligerent warships and military aircraft to engage in hostile operations within a neutral coastal State’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) during armed conflict. It argues that peacetime rules of due regard for coastal State sovereign rights and jurisdiction do not constrain these operations. The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) established the peacetime obligation of due regard in the EEZ. By 1984, the EEZ had become customary international law binding on all States. The San Remo Manual on International Law Applicable to Armed Conflict at Sea suggests belligerent naval forces owe a duty of due regard for a coastal State’s sovereign rights over resources in the EEZ during periods of hostilities at sea. This article suggests that the lex generalis EEZ regime in the law of the sea does not supersede the lex specialis rights of belligerent States to conduct operations in the law of naval warfare.
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